chapter Seven
Kale stared at me, uncertain and confused, as if he couldn’t be sure I was real. Something passed behind his eyes, a glimpse of someone I knew. Then, it was gone.
I had wanted so badly to find him here. I hadn’t really allowed myself to believe I would. Before I could react or speak, he moved in a blur, shoving past me. With both fists, he pounded on the window.
“Not her, you mother f*ckers! Anyone but her.”
The rage emanated from him. It swirled around me, a cloud of anger that I responded to against my will. I was burning with the urge to reach out to him with my power, to draw in his sinfully sweet energy. It called to the part of me that was all vampire; that side of me recognized him as mine.
Slowly, he backed away from the door, away from me to the opposite wall. His fists clenched and unclenched. His eyes darted around, settling on me in brief intervals.
“You need to get out of those cuffs. You have to be able to fight.” Squeezing his eyes shut, Kale shook his head vigorously, battling a hunger that wouldn’t be denied.
When at last he dragged his gaze to mine, I saw the eagerness for blood and death burning in his gorgeous eyes. One brown, the other blue, it was a mesmerizing feature that promised to enchant his victims as he killed them.
“I don’t think I can. The cuffs are on too tight.” I concentrated on slow, steady breaths, knowing my fear would only entice him.
“Try.” His pupils dilated, a dangerous sign of excitement. “Try hard.”
I strained against the cuffs, testing their limits. They were damn tight. My only chance of slipping them would be to shift. I could potentially slip them during the change. Being wolf in this place couldn’t possibly be a good idea. It would also mean being nude in human form once the change shredded my clothing. Decisions, decisions. If it meant surviving Kale, I’d do what I had to.
“Kale? Talk to me. What have they been doing to you?” If I could keep him talking, I might buy myself a few minutes before he tried to kill me.
He didn’t answer. Instead, he stared at me as if he was seeing someone or something else. A stranger. A victim. He might have seemed coherent, but I was fast realizing he wasn’t all there.
“Kale?” I tried again. My big plan to find Kale and bust him out of here couldn’t have gone more pathetically.
“This can’t be real,” he said more to himself than to me. “I’ve been waiting for it too long.”
A frown creased his brow. His dark brown hair was dishevelled. Shirtless and barefoot, he wore only pants. He had a primal appearance that triggered every one of my defenses. I understood Agent A*shole’s remark about the execution chamber. He’d thrown me in here expecting Kale would kill me, and judging by the bloodlust’s madness lurking in the vampire’s gaze, I was as good as dead. Once he snapped, it was all over. I had to get out of the cuffs.
I slid down the wall to the floor. I stretched my arms as far as I could, trying desperately to slide my cuffed hands over my butt so I could pull my legs through and have my hands in front of me rather than behind. I’d still be bound, but it would give me a better chance to defend myself physically.
It was a tight squeeze. My hands nearly became stuck beneath my rear end. Gritting my teeth, I forced them to move. Something pulled in my shoulder, but a moment later, my hands were in front of me. I stood up quickly, keeping my back to the wall and Kale in my line of sight.
Kale began to mutter to himself, something low and hard to make out. To me he said, “This is all your fault.”
Before I could tell him to snap out of it, he was on me. I brought my hands up to protect my throat, but it was useless. He grabbed the handcuffs and used them to slam my hands against the wall above my head. Pain shot through my wrists, and I whimpered. No matter what he did to me, I wouldn’t scream. That’s exactly what he would want.
With his free hand, he grabbed my chin and forced me to look into his eyes. It wasn’t difficult for him to draw me into his thrall. With my power cut off, I was unable to combat the strong pull.
“Why can’t I escape you?” His words dripped both venom and wonder.
My instinct was to tap my power and toss him across the room. Unfortunately, the mere act of reaching for it ricocheted it back at me with searing intensity. I gave a startled yelp. Having my power tied was unnatural and agonizing.
“The tables finally turn,” Kale murmured, leaning in to press his face to my hair. Inhaling my scent, he ran a finger down my neck, dragging it over my jugular. “I’m not the one at your mercy this time. I’m going to enjoy this.”
Sweet, soft-spoken Kale was absent from the creature caressing the throbbing vein beneath my skin. My mouth was as dry as cotton when I tried to speak. Nothing I could say would stop him. The FPA had done a good job of breaking what was left of his already fragile hold on sanity.
“I came for you,” I said quietly, fighting to stay calm.
“You came for freedom from the guilt. You put me here when you refused to release me from your clutches.” Kale brazenly ran his tongue over the vein he’d touched. “Time to finish what you started.”
I cowered against the wall. If he bit me, he was getting my knee in the groin. The touch of his mouth on my flesh was alarming and unwelcome. Hungry and possessive, his intentions were clear. This was not the lusty touch of a forbidden lover; it was the predatory manipulation of a killer.
“You’re out of your mind. This isn’t you, Kale.” I tested his hold on my hands, but he held tight. “It’s this place and these people. There’s something evil here.”
In response to my words, the small desk lamp flickered a few times. The murky sensation of the basement dweller was stifling. It was influencing Kale as it had Arys, as it had tried to do to me. From what I’d seen, vampires were more susceptible to it. Good for me earlier. Bad for me now.
“There are many evil things here. Including you and I.” He sucked at my sensitive skin, his fangs scraping over the fount of blood beneath the surface.
A pulse of dizzying energy caught me in his trap. Despite my growing fear, my body responded to him, betraying my mind and confusing my heart.
“Please, don’t do this.” Inwardly, I cringed. Begging would only feed his fire, yet as my panic rose, my rationale failed me.
His head snapped up, and his eyes blazed with wicked hunger. “I’m not ready for you to beg yet. But, I’d love to hear you scream.”
His free hand slid around my throat, tightening just enough to limit my air intake. “Pain?” Kale taunted with a vicious grin. “Or pleasure?”
Before I could feel relieved that he so quickly released my throat, he slid a hand between my legs. A fresh flood of adrenaline hit me. I wouldn’t have thought I had any left to spare, but the uncharacteristic action had me ready to fight.
I bared fangs, and a snarl slipped from my lips. This couldn’t be happening. Not like this. Not with him.
“Don’t worry, Alexa.” He oozed mesmerizing charm. “I’d never force you. I don’t have to. Because you want it.”
“Like hell I do. Stop this now before you do something you’ll regret later. I can help you, Kale.” Even as I spoke, my will was being manipulated.
The alluring draw of his heady vampire essence stirred my desire for him to life. I always wanted him but not like this, as his victim. As hard as I fought, I was falling under his spell. My will faded fast. With little more than clothing between us, his teasing fingers coaxed forth a groan.
“You said once that you never wanted it to happen like this,” I accused. I was running out of time.
“That was before you abused your power and made me your bitch.” Bitterness colored his words. He stroked my sweet spot, smiling when I gasped.
Kale was high on the thrill of the hunt. I couldn’t get through to him. It was just a game, one he would inevitably win. What would Arys think when it was Kale who killed me?
The warm rush of arousal chased away what little remained of my resolve. Kale had five centuries of seduction and bloodshed driving his careful strategy. We had shared one hurried, wild rain swept encounter, yet he had never touched me intimately like this. I longed for him to devour my body and blood.
With a sudden fright, I realized how strong his influence was. A final surge of desperation forced me to act. I brought a leg up between us and shoved my foot into his midsection. I shoved with all the strength I could muster, launching Kale across the room. His grip on my cuffed hands slipped but pulled me forward in the process. I caught myself before falling. With hands clenched into fists, I braced for his retaliation.
Kale wasn’t put off for long. He picked himself up and eyed me with a spark of malevolent glee.
“Alright then. Pain it is.”
Shit. I didn’t wait for him to come at me, not after a comment like that. As awkward as it was with my wrists attached, I succeeded in landing a blow that left my knuckles hurting. After landing a few more, it dawned on me that he was allowing it. Never a good sign.
I backed off, putting as much space between us as possible. Kale swiped at a dribble of blood dripping from his bottom lip. Then, he laughed, a sound so tainted with evil it made my skin crawl.
“Last chance to change your mind,” he offered, taking slow steady steps toward me.
“Here’s an idea. How about you change your mind, and instead of trying to kill me, you help me find a way out of here.”
“Tempting. Though honestly, I’ve spent weeks locked in this hole thinking about what I would do if I ever got my hands on you again.”
He threw me before I saw it coming. I crashed into the desk and hit the concrete floor. It skinned the palms of my hands and caused the cuffs to dig into my flesh. I did a quick check to see if I was bleeding but didn’t think so. Blood would be very bad.
On my knees, my hair in disarray around my face, I peered up at him. No semblance of anything that had ever been human looked back at me. Kale was all vampire. I was going to die in here with him. The FPA had gotten what they wanted all along: me at their mercy. I should never have come here. I could almost hear Arys in my head scolding me for such a dumbass move.
No sooner had I thought of him than I felt his presence in my mind. The waves of his worry reached me and guilt struck.
‘Where the hell are you? I’m looking for you.’ Arys’s annoyance translated just fine through our mental connection.
Instead of trying to form a coherent thought, I allowed him to see through my eyes. Together, we watched as Kale dragged me to my feet.
“He’s here, isn’t he?” Kale asked, holding me tight. “I can feel him. Good. He can watch.”
I fought to get away, but he was stronger than I was. My power gave me an edge over Kale. Without it, I was a flailing, panicking mess.
‘Oh, hell no.’ Arys’s sudden fury burned inside me as if it were my own. ‘He’s a dead man.’
Arys’s intent to come for me had my panic going into overdrive. ‘You can’t come in here,’ I told him. ‘You know what it does to you.’
Kale shoved me down on the bed. The squeak of springs was loud, and his weight atop me was suffocating. I thrashed violently, doing all I could to escape. He pinned me easily. Pressing his groin against mine, Kale shoved my hair aside and bit into my neck with a vicious snap of fangs.
It hurt dreadfully. I screamed, unable to hold it back. Blood poured from the wound. Kale swirled his tongue over the bites, making a strangled sound of pleasure as he did so. He was getting off on the fact that Arys was present for this.
I felt Kale grow hard against me, and my heart leaped into my throat. The more I fought, the more persistent he was. He jerked my pants down, taking my underwear along as well. The muggy basement air caressed my exposed flesh, and for a moment, I thought I heard disembodied laughter. This place thrived on such acts of terror and violation.
‘Fight him, Alexa. You have to.’ Arys wasn’t able to hide his panic.
“Kale, please,” I shouted, my voice bordered on hysteria. “Don’t do this. It’s not you. I know it’s not you. Please.”
When he looked into my eyes again, I fell silent. His delicious energy rolled over me, trying to drag me back under. I saw my way out, and I took it. Kale forced two fingers inside me. With a soft moan, I allowed it to happen. I invited it. Playing the wanton victim wasn’t hard.
Arys was a silent witness. What he saw, what he felt through our connection, repulsed him, not because of what Kale was doing to me, but because I was allowing it and even enjoying it.
“Kale,” I purred like a sex hungry seductress. “Kiss me.”
Without hesitation, he pressed his lips to mine. I drank in the scent of him and the taste of my blood in his mouth. It mingled with the blood coming from his cut lip. It was bittersweet. As our blood taunted my lust for him, our violent reality crushed that secret dream where Kale and I made sweet love the way we never would. Arys’s presence gave me the strength to resist Kale’s vampiric charms. It was both a blessing and a curse. I clung to our twin flame connection, seeing it for the rare and wondrous thing it was.
Kale’s attention returned to my bleeding neck. He sucked at the bloody bite while exploring me with his fingers. Though I was faking the glamoured victim act, I couldn’t deny the pleasure he stirred within me. That was real.
I counted to three and brought my knee up into his groin as hard as I could. He cried out in pain and rolled onto his side. I grabbed the lamp from the desk and smashed it over his head. It slowed him but didn’t put him down like I’d hoped, so I went for the chair next. It was heavy and wooden, slamming into his skull with a sickening thud.
I held it ready to bring down again, but Kale didn’t move. I nudged him just to be sure he wasn’t trying to fake me out. I set the chair down but kept it close while I fixed my clothing. Thank God for having gotten my hands in front of me. I wouldn’t have stood a chance with them behind me.
‘I really don’t give you enough credit,’ came Arys’s relieved thought.
‘Isn’t that what I’ve been saying for a while now?’
I pressed a hand to my neck. Blood streamed through my fingers to drip on the floor. Kale hadn’t taken it easy with that bite. This could be bad.
‘You need to get out of there. I’m coming for you.’ His insistence was worrisome. This place would eat him alive.
‘Don’t be an idiot, Arys. This place will kick your ass. Again. If the FPA don’t do it first.’ I glanced around the dimly lit room. The lamp base had shattered, but the bulb remained lit.
I didn’t think Kale would be out for long. I went to the door and stood on my tiptoes to look out the window. I saw only the door across from me. A faint light glowed beyond, but I couldn’t see the occupant.
I banged on the window a few times, fearful of rousing Kale. If he started to move, I might have to hit him with the chair again. I banged again, adding a shout along with it. It was futile I knew. If anyone heard me, it would likely be Agent A*shole and his pitiful excuse for a partner.
‘Don’t come here, Arys. Get a hold of Juliet. Tell her I’m here. And, find Jez if you can. I need to know her and Willow made it out.’
‘Of course, you had accomplices.’ His disdain was evident.
A shadow moved in the hallway. Someone was approaching. I tensed. The surprises kept coming. It was Bianca, and she was in a hurry.
I backed away from the door and grabbed the chair. I’d let Kale kill me before I let Shaz’s lover lay a hand on me. She opened the door and slipped inside, closing it fast.
“I’m here to get you out,” she said in a rush, eyeing the chair in my grip and Kale’s prone form on the bed. “We have to hurry.”
“Are you kidding me? I don’t trust you.”
“I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t trust me either, but you’ve got to believe me; I’m sorry for what happened with Shaz. I respect you, and not just because you kicked my ass.” She glanced furtively toward the door. “But, we really don’t have time for this now.”
“I can’t leave without Kale. He’s the reason I’m here.” The prospect of freedom was promising. However, the thought of leaving this building for the second time without Kale was crushing.
Bianca’s long black ponytail swung as she opened the door and peeked into the hall. “I’ll come back for him later. We’ve got to go. Briggs doesn’t know you’re here yet. Trust me when I say you want to keep it that way.”
I was torn. Could I trust Bianca? For all I knew she could have unsavory plans for me. Despite what he’d just done to me, I didn’t want to leave Kale.
‘What are you waiting for? Get the hell out of there before Briggs knows he has you,’ Arys warned.
I cast one last glance back at Kale and followed Bianca into the hall. “How did you know I was here?”
Instead of heading back the way I had come in with Jez and Willow, Bianca led me through a maze of halls in the opposite direction. She paused to remove the horrible handcuffs. I rubbed my bruised wrists and gratefully tapped my power. It surged through me, a comforting sensation.
“I ran into your friends. I recognized the leopard. She told me about Hunter. The man is an oversized child with a gun. It’s ridiculous.”
“Hunter? You mean Agent A*shole?”
Bianca laughed, a short clipped sound. “Yeah, that’d be him.”
A tall, leggy thing, Bianca had ebony hair and eyes that glittered with sensuality. She’d seduced my wolf mate, making him her willing blood slave. I hated her. That she sprung me from Kale’s prison rubbed salt in a wound that might never fully heal. It was one of life’s little kicks in the teeth.
“So, where is Jez now?” We passed a wing of empty rooms rife with spiritual unrest. The residual energy screamed of violence and death. Spirits swarmed me. They pulled at my clothes and whispered obscenities in my ears. I shielded against them, forcing them back.
“She got out. With the angel, who called me a harlot.” Bianca slid a sidelong glance my way. “I suppose I deserved that.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
If we dredged this up, I wouldn’t be able to censor myself. I wanted to blame her for taking Shaz away from me, to tell her she’s the one who turned him into a junkie and drove him out of town. It wasn’t true though. She had merely taken advantage of Shaz’s weakness, but it had started with Arys and me.
“Fair enough. I get it. I’d hate me, too. But, I was just taking what he was freely giving,” she said, leading me to the left when we reached a T in the corridor. “This way.”
We rounded a corner, and I was happy to see a stairwell ahead. I wanted desperately to escape the truth lurking behind her ugly excuse. My adrenaline had long since run out. I forced myself to keep moving, shoving aside the blood loss and exhaustion of having my ass kicked.
My short-lived imprisonment was almost over. I couldn’t wait to get away from the writhing black mass plaguing my every step. I cast a wary look at the vampiress, curious as to how it was affecting her. The last time I saw her here, she had been on the top floor, far from the basement.
As blessedly short as my stay had been, I was ready to get out. So, when Agents Hunter and Hastings stepped into our path, I groaned in exasperation. Without hesitation, I slammed them both with the power pent up inside me. It felt so damn good to unleash it.
“Bianca, what the f*ck are you doing down here?” Hastings grunted. He gasped for breath and reached for his weapon.
Bianca was on him before he could aim it. Her guttural snarl echoed in the dank, empty corridor. The atmosphere hummed with her savage hunger. She bit into Hastings with the intensity of a rabid dog. That answered my earlier question. She couldn’t handle it down here either.
I fixed my attention on the a*shole I now knew as Agent Hunter. He stared up at me with terror-filled eyes. The force of the blast I’d hit him with kept him pinned to the rubble-littered floor. I stood over him, savoring the way his human energy so easily bent to my will. I could feel his fragile heart, every beat palpable. So easily, I could crush him. I bent down, retrieved my phone from his pocket and gazed deep into him.
“Agent Hunter, you’ve made a very big mistake. I’m going to leave now, but I promise I will hunt you down and kill you slowly. And, you will love it even as you’re screaming for your pathetic life.”
Anger flashed in his eyes. I didn’t hang around long enough to hear his retort. Leaving Bianca to have her way with the agents, I sprinted up the stairs with that disembodied voice begging me to stay. I didn’t stop running until I had escaped the haunted hospital, leaving Kale behind for the second time.